Not for children under 6...

Beca had a very exciting Christmas. Christmas Eve was rather amusing - out of Beca's entire class, there were only 3 kids and 4 teachers. the 3 kids all came from the same 2-year old class. And since the parents had been released at noon, I decided to pick her up early and go visit her old class. She had fun playing on the old playground and seeing her "Jeffy" (Beth), Meghan, and Dana. And all the other teachers that were there. She knows everybody... We had a very interesting conversation with the three teachers regarding their plans for the Cottle baby conception calendar countdown in January. They are expecting a baby from us in 2009 regardless of what our plans are. they even gave my mother instructions to keep Beca and lock us in our cabin on the cruise as much as possible. Weird on so many levels.

We had a nice lunch just the 3 of us complete with Cafe Carolina Cupcakes (oh, my, yum). Then a drive to Wilmington listening to most of Beca's Christmas DVD collection. Not so bad though. Wilmington was warm - 70 degrees. Beca got a little bath to help with the rash still on her bottom and then wore her Minnie Mouse Holiday skirt and sweater so she was quite happy. We spent some good time out side.
Me, Beca, and Ema (Steve's mom, Becky)
We spent the evening with Steve's family and good food and some fun and then drove home. There were lots of presents for Beca, including a Tinkerbell costume:
Beca enjoyed playing with Aidan (especially with his little bug):
And just before we left, Beca put on her new PJ's and snuggled up with Tracy, Steve's cousin.

While Santa was ready to deliver gifts when we got home, Mommy and Daddy were not ready with the gifts for Beca from us. So the night was late but thankfully not too late.
Christmas morning - 6:30 am. I don't think Beca knew why she was awake exactly.
She ended up finding a present under the tree in her room from Santa but really wanted to take it downstairs. She was only allowed to open her presents that Santa brought but she was so excited about her White Christmas movie, princess bike, princess scooter, princess fishing game, and princess "panino". Each item was repeated about 10 times with increasing levels of excitement.


Oma and Pop-pop came over (did it really have to rain on Christmas morning again?) and brought Zoe back to our house. She was not happy with the further changes to her living room and sulked frequently on her bed (which had been moved to my office area). More presents were opened but we were all so busy watching Beca so we didn't open our gifts.



Steve made bacon, grits, eggs, and biscuits and I made chocolate chip pancakes because Beca would not have eaten anything that Steve had made. After breakfast, the meltdown started. With no more presents with Beca's name on them, she turned to her demon-child side. Oh, and there was the singing Ariel shell that my brother inadvertantly sent with the rest of her present. It sings the Ariel "ah-ah-aahh, ah-ah-aahhh" from the Little Mermaid when the sea witch is taking her voice. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. I think it has been hidden for a little while. The good part of his gift was the armoire for Beca's costumes. It's pretty neat to have something to put all the new costumes in!

So, after lunch, a nap was necessary and Beca slept for over 2 hours before we went over to Oma and Pop-pop's for dinner and more presents. She also rode her scooter for a while.
There are presents, presents, presents everywhere. Hmmmm, I have no idea where all this stuff will go.


There is one present that Beca got that has Steve and I frustrated. I love you, Jen, really. But the "My meeba" clearly states "for ages 6 and up". We have been taking turns trying to get all the little games played and grow the creature on the screen so we can get the damn creature out of the box. Steve even tried unscrewing and couldn't get in it. It isn't hard for an adult but Beca just doesn't get what to do with it. but she wants to know what is inside. So you "grow" this creature by playing 3 different games and earning hearts after playing each game like 4 times. Earn three hearts and the creature on the screen "evolves" to a larger creature. It takes forever but I can see where a 7 year old would love this activity. Beca is enjoying her books and puzzles that she got as well as all the dress up items while we curse the creature.